Born to enslaved parents, Anthony Overton became one of the leading African American entrepreneurs of the twentieth century. Overton's Chicago-based empire ranged from personal care products and media properties to insurance and finance. Yet, despite success and acclaim as the first business figure to win the NAACP's Spingarn Medal, Overton remains an enigma.Robert E. Weems Jr. restores Overton to his rightful place in American business history. Dispelling stubborn myths, he traces Overton's rise from mentorship by Booker T. Washington, through early failures, to a fateful move to Chicago in 1911. There, Overton started a popular magazine aimed at African American women that helped him dramatically grow his cosmetics firm. Overton went on to become the first African American to head a major business conglomerate, only to lose significant parts of his businesses-and his public persona as "the merchant prince of his race"-in the Depression, before rebounding once again in the early 1940s. Revealing and panoramic, The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago weaves the fascinating life story of an African American trailblazer through the eventful history of his times.

This first comprehensive story of logging, lumbering, and forest conservation in Texas records the industry's history from the earliest days of the Republic, when a few isolated operations provided for local needs, through the first four decades of the twentieth century. Supplemented by over one hundred photographs, many never before published, the text re-creates Texas' heyday as one of the nation's leading timber producers. At that time, the forested area equaled the state of Indiana. In the words of one visitor, the forest was "like a vast wave that has rolled in upon a level beach . . . creeping forward, thinning out, and finally disappearing, except where, along a river course, it pushes far inland." The industry's most significant growth occurred between the end of Reconstruction and the beginnings of World War II, when entrepreneurs from the North, the South, and the East ventured into the vast stands of virgin timber in the Texas Piney Woods. These pioneers, attracted by the great potential fortunes to be made, provided the capital, expertise, and energy that introduced large mills and railroads to Texas lumbering and developed markets for their products--not only in Houston, Dallas, and other Texas cities but also across the United States and throughout the world. Various lumber companies, logging and mill operations, company towns, and the genesis of forest conservation are all featured in the text and illustrations. This account will appeal to historians, conservationists, and general readers interested in the Texas lumber industry and in Texas economic history.

Gary Rivlin tells the story of Ron Conway, the man who has placed more bets on Internet start-ups than anyone eise in Silicon Valley. Conway is a reader-friendly way into the realm of angel financing, where independently wealthy investors link up with companies just as they are being born. The Godfather of Silicon Valley takes you into this fascinating world on the edges of the financial universe, where the pace is frantic, the story lines are rich, and every moment is perilous.

The Step-by-Step Guidebook to Benchmarking Today's Best Value-Based Management Approaches

"Finally, a 'how to' book that is not mired in impractical theory. Morin and Jarrell offer a forceful work, using empirical evidence, to demonstrate that strategy does create value--debunking some of the widely-held value destroying myths along the way. This is a groundbreaking book that is reflective of today's dynamic business environment. Anyone wanting to drive shareholder value, public or private, can find practical advice. I will recommend it to all of my clients."

--Rick Wimmer, Partner, Ernst & Young

"This complete description of Value Based Management from strategic analysis through its 'recipe for success' for effective implementation provides essential knowledge for corporate management, and clearly demonstrates why the 'M' in VBM stands for 'Management' rather than simply 'Metrics'."

--Mark C. Ubelhart, VBM Practice Leader, Hewitt Associates LLC

"Using both established and new techniques of analysis, "Driving Shareholder Value "describes how companies can increase stockholder value. Case studies and examples add to the readability and clarity. Morin and Jarrell's VBM framework ties it all together: corporate strategy, financial structure, and performance measurement/incentive compensation to explain in clear, understandable language how to create stockholder value."

--John B. McKinnon, Corporate Director and Former President, Sara Lee Corporation

"Value-Based Management is key to developing successful organizations at all levels--from seed-stage companies to mature businesses--and entrepreneurs, managers, and investors must understand how to create value to survive."Driving Shareholder Value "is a practical enterprise-wide approach for creating, measuring, and maintaining value across all levels of an organization. Morin and Jarrell have presented managers and directors with the specific game plan for creating value within a company. Their VBM framework should become the guiding principle for employees and managers at all levels. The real options perspective in particular holds enormous potential for evaluating venture capital transactions."

--John Ciannamea, Senior Managing Director, Longleaf Venture Fund

"Thanks to an unprecedented wave of takeovers, shareholder activism, and global competition, corporate America has become acutely aware of the importance of creating value for shareholders."

From the very first sentence in "Driving Shareholder Value," authors Roger Morin and Sherry Jarrell make their positions crystal clear: If you don't fully exploit the wealth creation possibilities of your corporation, someone else will--and their tactics could leave you on the outside looking in.

Far from being abstract and inaccessible, "Driving Shareholder Value "translates today's most prevalent and proven Value-based management theories into practical, concrete tools and approaches for implementing a shareholder value orientation throughout any organization. The only book that guides corporate strategy with valuation techniques, it incorporates the best features of strategic, financial, and institutional approaches into an integrative, coherent framework for determining how companies are governed, executives are paid, and business strategies are implemented and evaluated.

"There is no magic bullet for corporate success. VBM is more a single"framework "for targeting those business decisions that consistently add economic value--both immediate and long-term--to your company."

It only makes sense that, in order to become a successful VBM company, you must first benchmark your efforts against the VBM leaders. "Driving Shareholder Value "looks inside the strategic files of General Electric, PepsiCo, Abbott Labs, and other long-term value creators for guidance on: How to remove emotion from the equation--and look at your company from the perspective of the corporate raider Using the right tool for every type of business challenge, from compensation and capital budgeting to operations and strategy Implementation of proven, state-of-the-art-valuation methods, including cash flows to equity, adjusted present value, and real options strategic analysis

Value-based management will continue to drive company profits and productivity well into the twenty-first century, and executives at every level will be increasingly judged by their ability to make consistent, value-maximizing decisions. Let "Driving Shareholder Value "show you how today's leaders are successfully integrating VBM into their company structures--leading to better productivity, better quality and, ultimately, superior financial performance for their companies.

The updated edition is the story of Mitchell and his company told in narrative form and in a series of interviews of the people who nurtured the company through the years. It is Horatio Alger, Texana, human conflict, tales of the oil patch, and a study of the shaky start of what is now one of the most innovative and successful new communities anywhere, all rolled into one. Its author is Joseph W. Kutchin, an experienced journalist who served many years as the corporation's vice president in charge of public relations.

Named one of the best business books of the year (by Fortune and Newsweek), SONY is the "intimate biography of one of the world's leading electronics giants" (San Francisco Chronicle) as well as one of the most fascinating and complex of all corporate stories. Drawing on his unmatched expertise in Japanese culture and on unique, unlimited access to Sony's inner sanctum, John Nathan traces Sony's evolution from its inauspicious beginnings amid Tokyo's bomb-scarred ruins to its current worldwide success. "Richly detailed and revealing" (Wall Street Journal), the book examines both the outward successes and, as never before, the mysterious inner workings that have always characterized this company's top ranks. The result is "a different kind of business book, showing how personal relationships shaped one of the century's great global corporations" (Fortune).

Not just a business, but an opportunity for personal success and achievement, Amway has spread the old-fashioned American dream across the globe -- from South America to the Pacific Rim. This definitive history of Amway delves deep into the heart and soul of the organization. It is an inspirational, motivational chronicle of the company as a whole -- its ideology, goals, beliefs, ethics, and sense of values -- filled with uplifting stories of people around the world whose lives have been totally transformed by the Amway philosophy.

Named one of the Best Business Books of 1997 by Business Week, "Inside Intel" is the gripping business saga of a company that rose to dominance through technological innovation, and maintained its leadership against competitors through aggressive marketing, tough business tactics, and liberal use of legal firepower.

In his in-depth portrait of Intel, the first history/expose of the company, Financial Times columnist Tim Jackson reveals that:
-- Intel's corporate culture is determinedly secretive and authoritarian.
-- The company retains its own force of private investigators to prevent its employees from going astray.
-- Intel routinely uses the threat of lawsuits against workers and rivals.

At the center of this story is Andy Grove, Intel's high-profile CEO and chairman, once a penniless immigrant who waited tables to put himself through college. It is Grove who has made the unpopular decisions which have kept Intel at the top of the chip market.

Exhaustively researched from court records, unpublished documents, and interviews with Intel's competitors, partners, and past and present employees, Jackson traces the company's spectacular failures and successes, as well as the powerful human struggles that have made Intel one of the most competitive players in a high-stakes game.

Reads like a novel, yet serves as a how-to guide for creating a customer culture and marketing strategies that wow Wall Street...I recommend this book as priority reading for all retail executives. Kurt Barnard, President, Barnard Retail Trend Report and Barnard's Retail Consulting Group.

Admirers, competitors, industry and Wall Street analysts alike are intrigued with the question of what makes Home Depot so special. What, exactly, does this giant do that so clearly distinguishes it from the competition? How does Home Depot culture and customer service work? And, most importantly, what lessons can every business learn from the Home Depot example? INSIDE HOME DEPOT takes you behind the scenes to discover the secrets of success of this retail giant how, in just twenty years, Home Depot has not only changed the way hardware is sold, Home Depot has also elevated the superstore concept to a new level of success, inspiring both admiration and fear in the retail community. Relying on inside access to Home Depot's training programs, interviews with key employees both past and present, and meticulous investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist Chris Roush presents the first uncensored book about how this company has become so successful, and isolates the practical lessons that readers can apply to any industry.

Accurate, acerbic, amusing and full of splendid indignation, "The Confidential Memos of I. M. Vested" presents an unforgettable portrait of a company gone awry, a company once proudly in the Fortune 50 and only now struggling back from the excesses of managers who forgot--or never knew--what running a company was all about.

Marvel Studios has provided some of the biggest worldwide cinematic hits of the last eight years, from Iron Man (2008) to the record-breaking The Avengers (2012), and beyond. Having announced plans to extend its production of connected texts in cinema, network and online television until at least 2028, the new aesthetic patterns brought about by Marvel's 'shared' media universe demand analysis and understanding. The Marvel Studios Phenomenon evaluates the studio's identity, as well as its status within the structures of parent Disney. In a new set of readings of key texts such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the thematics of superhero fiction and the role of fandom are considered. The authors identify milestones from Marvel's complex and controversial business history, allowing us to appraise its industrial status: from a comic publisher keen to exploit its intellectual property, to an independent producer, to successful subsidiary of a vast entertainment empire.

In the second edition of his best-selling book, Stephen Rhinesmith continues to offer insights into achieving management success in an increasingly challenging international market. Based on his experience training over 5,000 managers from 35 diferent countries, Rhinesmith addresses the key questions about what globalization means for jobs, mindsets and skills. "A Manager's Guide to Globalization" shows how to: Understand the forces driving companies to go global.Manage the conflicts and contradictions of global matric organizations.Lead multicultural teams comprised of people from many national backgrounds.

The dramatic story of the last fifty years of the Speyer banking dynasty, a Jewish family of German descent, is surprisingly little known today, yet at the turn of the 20th century, Speyer was the third largest investment banking firm in the United States, behind only Morgan and Kuhn, Loeb. It had branches in London, Frankfurt and New York, and the projects it financed included the Southern Pacific Railroad, the London Underground and the infrastructure of the new Cuban republic. Later, it was the first major banking firm to finance Germany's Weimar Republic, as well as providing League of Nations loans to Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria. Yet, the firm was doomed by the nationalist passions aroused by World War I. Its English partner was denaturalised and exiled; its American partner enjoyed reduced standing because of his connection to Germany; and the Frankfurt branch closed with the coming of the Third Reich, its German partner fleeing into exile. The firm was dissolved in 1939, a surprisingly anticlimactic end to one of the great international banking companies of modern times. George W. Liebmann here tells the story of the firm and the family - shedding new light on the protagonists of a remarkable dynasty, who came undone in the dramatic years of the early 20th century.

The American samurai knows that the old attitudes just won't cut it in today's market. He knows that the battle to make the U.S. a great economic power might be lost, but he's still willing to fight to the end to put quality back in American products. If you are ready to become a crusader for quality and success, William Lareau shows you how. In frank language, he explains:
-- Why managers -- not workers -- are responsible for 99% of all day-to-day business breakdowns
-- Why every American samurai must learn the Japanese word "Kaizen" -- and put it into effect in their company today
-- Why building to specs guarantees stagnation
-- A 12-step, "Plan-Do-Check-Act" program that can become your pathway to achieving and maintaining quality.